Talking Heads will reissue their debut album, Talking Heads: 77, with an unreleased live album from CBGB and 12 other rarities, set for release on Nov 8. The reissue will be released digitally, on two-LP standard black vinyl, two-LP green vinyl at Barnes & Noble and as a three-CD/Blu-ray set, with the Blu-ray featuring new high-quality mixes of the album.
Talking Heads: 77 (Super Deluxe Edition) will be made up of four LPs, one of which is a remaster of the original album. There will also be an LP of unreleased demos and outtakes, along with a two-LP live album, Live at CBGB, New York, NY, Oct. 10, 1977, a recording of their last concert at the famed New York club. The live album, only available in the box set, will feature 13 previously unreleased live recordings. The rarities include alternate takes, acoustic versions and more, like “Psycho Killer (Acoustic Version),” featuring the late cellist Arthur Russell, which is available now via digital outlets.
David Byrne said of the collaboration in a press release: “We knew cellist and singer/songwriter Arthur Russell from the downtown world. He died early from AIDS, and during his life, he released very disparate records—spacey tunes on the album World of Echo and disco club tunes under the name Dinosaur L. He left a huge legacy of recordings, which are still filtering out 40 years after his passing. I remember seeing him play Philip Glass music for a Mabou Mines production of a Beckett play. I think Beckett’s folks hated it, as they didn’t want there to be music in his plays. So it wasn’t a huge stretch that we’d invite Arthur to arrange and play on an alternate version of “Psycho Killer.” Somewhat perversely, I always saw the song as being a slightly more intimate folk rock thing rather than the rock song that folks seemed to love. So I had a special attachment to this version.”
The set also includes four 7-inch singles, an 80-page hardcover book with never-before-seen photos and more, and liner notes written by the members of Talking Heads (Byrne, Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz and Jerry Harrison) as well as recording engineer Ed Stasium.
Talking Heads: 77 (Super Deluxe Edition) is available for preorder now.
To stream ‘Psycho Killer (Acoustic Version)’ head HERE.
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